Anti-gay law spurs call for SF retirement system to divest from Russia

Supervisor Scott Wiener wants to see if SF should divest its retirement holdings from Russia.

Supervisor Scott Wiener may have figured out a way to make a foray into international politics that isn’t totally futile.

Wiener on Monday waded into the international debate over Russia’s recent anti-gay law, asking the city’s retirement fund to consider pulling the more than $37 million it has invested in Russia securities. The supervisor, who is gay and represents the city’s LGBT mecca, the Castro District, asked system officials to “analyze whether it should divest of these Russian securities,” noting they make up just .22 percent of the San Francsico Employees’ Retirement System’s assets.

It’s not unusual for San Francisco officials and voters to take positions on national or international issues — but usually only through policy statements.

Wiener said SFERS is the only city agency that conducts business with Russia, which has been under fire since leaders passed a law in June barring homosexual “propaganda,” — language widely seen as effectively criminalizing being openly gay. In a letter to SFERS executive director Jay Huish, Wiener called the law “draconian,” and said it is “reminiscent of anti-Jewish legislation passed in Germany in the 1930s.” Wiener asked the retirement system, as well as all city departments, to tell him whether the city purchases goods or services from Russia or holds Russian investments.

“Given Russia’s long history of violent persecution of minorities, I and many others are greatly concerned for the safety and dignity of our LGBT brothers and sisters in that country,” Wiener wrote to Huish. “We are all very sensitive to SFERS’s fiduciary responsibility to current and future retirees and I do not advocate that SFERS do anything to undermine that responsibility. Yet, given the small size of these Russian holdings, it may very well be the case that divestment can occur without impacting the fund’s ability to meet its obligations.”